The present invention is directed to a buffer recording system that is automatically triggered in response to a triggering event to record a desired portion of a signal. The detection of the triggering event involves detecting whether a predetermined relationship exists between a recognized pattern in the signal and a reference pattern maintained in memory.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,463,599 discloses a buffer system for radio receivers that operates according to several different modes of operation. Each of these modes relies on a buffer for continuously storing in digital form the radio signals last outputted by a processing circuit over a predetermined time interval. The Skip-Mode of operation allows a user to xe2x80x9cskipxe2x80x9d over unwanted radio broadcasts such as, for example, commercial breaks. In this mode, the audio circuit is connected to receive the radio signals from a buffer at first with a slowly increasing delay from real-time until the delay reaches the predetermined time interval of the buffer, and thereafter with a delay from real-time equal to that of the predetermined time interval. The Skip-Mode thus allows the portion of the radio signals equal to that of the predetermined time interval to be skipped.
In a Standby-Mode, the system of the ""599 patent causes the buffer to store the radio signals even when the radio receiver is otherwise turned off, thereby allowing the user to listen to information that had been broadcast before the user turned on the radio.
In a Forward-Mode, the system of the ""599 patent causes the buffer to store the radio signals for the predetermined interval after the radio is turned off, thereby allowing the user to record for later playback information that was broadcast after the user turned off the radio receiver.
What is common to all of these modes of operation in the system of the ""599 patent is that in order to record a desired broadcast, the user must know when the desired program is to be broadcast. In either one of the Standby and Forward modes of operation, since the desired program must be broadcast within the predetermined time interval of the buffer in order to be recorded, the user must determine the time at which these modes are to be implemented in order to ensure that the desired program and the predetermined time interval coincide. A drawback to this system is that if the user forgets or does not know when the desired program is to be broadcast, that program will not be recorded in the buffer.
What is therefore needed is a recording system that is automatically triggered to record a desired program by detecting a triggering event that corresponds to a particular detectable feature of the desired program. In such a system, a user would not need to know in advance when the recording mode is to be implemented.
In order to achieve this object, the present invention is directed to a recording system that delays an input signal by a predetermined duration. The recording system of the present invention recognizes at least one pattern of the signal and determines whether the at least one recognized pattern corresponds to a triggering event. If the at least one recognized pattern corresponds to the triggering event, the recording system records the delayed signal for at least the predetermined duration.
The recording system of the present invention includes a recording buffer having an input for receiving at least one signal and an output for supplying the at least one signal delayed by a predetermined duration. The recording system also includes at least one pattern recognizer having an input for receiving the at least one signal and a storage device in communication with the pattern recognizer. The storage device stores a plurality of reference patterns, and the pattern recognizer includes an output for producing a triggering signal if a pattern of the at least one signal corresponds to at least one of the plurality of reference patterns. A recording device in the recording system has a first input in communication with the output of the recording buffer and a second input in communication with the output of the at least one pattern recognizer. The recording device is activated to record the at least one delayed signal for at least the predetermined duration if the triggering signal is supplied from the output of the pattern recognizer.
According to another embodiment of the present invention, a processing device is provided in the recording system in order to perform a logical operation on the outputs provided by the pattern recognizer. If the logic operation yields a result indicating the presence of a triggering event, the processing device will activate the recording device in order to record the at least one delayed signal for at least the predetermined duration.
Some of the applications to which the present invention may be directed include the automated triggering of the recording of desired radio and television programs, certain stochastic signals, or any other signal capable of being recorded on a recording medium.